A few weeks before, WebProNews carried an item about Google deleting PageRank from Webmaster Tools. Susan Moskwa, a Webmaster Trends Analyst at the top search engine said, “We’ve been telling people for a long time they shouldn’t focus on PageRank so much; many site owners seem to think it’s the most important metric for them to track, which is simply not true,” she pointed out. “We removed it because we felt it was silly to tell people not to think about it, but then to show them the data, implying that they should look for it.” At present, PageRank has been taken out of Google WebMaster Tools but it still shows up in the Google Toolbar.
I can’t figure out why Google believes that we shouldn’t put too much weight on the information reflected in PageRank yet it is apparent to every single one that nearly everyone of us rely on these statistics when gauging the outcomes of our search engine optimization and marketing strategies and given that a majority know that a high PR results in further traffic for our online business then, Page Rank should be taken note of when evaluating the results of our efforts.
Titus Hoskins, a Search Engine Marketer and author of ‘Does Google Page Rank Count Anymore?’ wrote in his article that, “For years, Google has been downplaying the importance of Page Rank and states that it’s only one of about 200 ranking factors which determine how Google ranks its index for keywords”, pointed out the results of gaining high PR popularity on online establishments, and I suppose that many of what he mentioned are very enlightening.
Titus Hoskins spoke about the effect of a higher page rank announcing that, “Obtaining a high PR7 or PR8 simply means more business and revenues. Placed against a PR1 site, a PR8 will win more respect in the eyes of potential clients and can produce enormous profits for the site owner.”
So where does this prospective client respect come from? It is borne out of their respect of Google of course. Titus Hoskins discussed the respect and brand recognition Google has by saying, “Google has established an unmatched credibility and brand recognition in the eyes of potential customers visiting your site. Web users trust Google for guidance and direction”, and as an internet marketer, Hoskins is astounded by how Google influences the cyber community. Respecting this he asserted, “I am completely amazed each day at the marketing power Google now commands with web surfers and with the general population.” Hoskins added, “Google is the king of online search and no other search engine even comes close to Google.”
I translate that to mean that if Google, gives a web-based business a high PR, then count on Google’s influence to have a positive effect on the number of online visitors purchase from that site. So how can we prevent these businesses from assigning such a big to Google PageRank figures?
“Regardless of what Google wants to happen,” added Hoskins, “PageRank is still extremely important to anyone marketing on the web, especially if you’re selling SEO services or operating a web business.” In closing, he summarizes people’s assessment of PageRank as a marketing tool that, “still wields tremendous influence and power” and universally, this understanding has stayed valid up until recently. “By default, PageRank is Google’s opinion of your site,” Hoskins stressed. “Web users can count (at least to 10) and if Google believes people are still not counting when it comes to PageRank, then they are fully mistaken.”
Despite what Google has said I am still of the opinion that there is some reasons to make usage of Google’s PageRank feature. I agree with the writers quoted above, and plan to continue to use Google’s PageRank in my evaluation of my own SEO efforts as well as other people’s.
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Tags: Google PageRank, Google rank, index, indexing atributes, PageRank, PR, PR importance
